Southern highbush blueberries are grown in areas where winters are too mild to permit cultivation of northern highbush blueberry cultivars, all of which have a high chilling requirement. As one moves farther and farther south down the Florida peninsula and to areas with warmer and warmer winters in other parts of the world, the harvest season becomes earlier and earlier, but varieties with lower and lower chilling requirements are needed for commercial production. Adaptation to areas with mild winters requires that both flower buds and leaf buds sprout vigorously in the spring after having received only a short period of winter chilling.
The University of Florida has been breeding to develop low-chill highbush blueberry varieties since 1950. Recurrent selection is being used to improve the adaptation of the plants, the yields, and the quality of the berries. ‘Springwide’ was selected from the cross FL83-132 (unpatented)×‘Sharpblue’ (unpatented) which was made in a greenhouse in Gainesville, Fla. in 1984. The seedling was first fruited in a field evaluation nursery in Gainesville in the spring of 1986. The plant was asexually propagated by softwood cuttings to plant 10-plant plots in Gainesville, Sebring, and Windsor between 1990 and 1994. In January 1998, 10-plant plots propagated from softwood cuttings were planted at 5 other locations in Florida. In all cases, plants from softwood cuttings have been uniform and have not shown deviations from the variety characteristics. ‘Springwide’ has been outstanding in its ability to leaf and flower well and ripen early in the season in the low-chill production areas in the central Florida peninsula.